For round-the-clock operations such as hotels, hospitals and senior care facilities, laundry is more than just a daily task – it’s a core function that directly impacts quality of service and business continuity. In today’s commercial laundry landscape, value is no longer defined by the capacity and efficiency of individual machines alone, but by the intelligence of the entire system.
To explore this shift, we spoke with the team behind the LG Professional Laundry solution. Experts from product planning, sales, R&D and marketing shared their insights on how LG is moving beyond standalone hardware to provide a comprehensive business solution.
Q. The Commercial Laundry Market Seems to be Undergoing Significant Change. What’s Driving This?
(Sales): In the past, the market’s focus was on larger capacities and stronger performance. Now, the conversation is primarily about operational efficiency. Faced with rising labor and energy costs, our customers are no longer just looking for a machine; they’re looking for a solution that reduces their operational burden. This shift is especially evident in sectors such as hospitality and senior care, where demand for commercial laundry infrastructure continues to grow.
Q. What Is the Biggest Difference Between a Commercial Washer and One for the Home?
(Product Planning): A home washing machine is designed around convenience and lifestyle. A commercial washer, by contrast, is part of a business’s operational infrastructure. For our clients in hotels and hospitals, where laundry is directly tied to service quality, everything matters – durability, serviceability, energy usage and uptime. Ultimately, a commercial client is choosing a solution that will help keep their business running smoothly and without interruptions.
Q. LG Has Been in the Commercial Laundry Business for a While Now. What Makes the New LG Professional Laundry Lineup Different From What Came Before?
(Product Planning): Unlike our previous lineups, which focused primarily on improving the performance of the machines themselves, LG Professional Laundry is designed to improve the overall efficiency of customers’ operations. These new large-capacity washers and dryers are equipped with AI-powered load detection, heat pump technology and the Dynamic Ball-Core System and can be easily managed using the intuitive LaundryCrew app. It’s all designed to reduce the on-site burden for businesses and help them optimize mission-critical workflows. LG Professional Laundry reflects our shift from equipment manufacturing toward a more solution-oriented business model.
Q. Can You Tell Us More About How Customer Insights Led to the Development of Specific Features?
(Marketing): The core technologies utilized in LG Professional Laundry were developed based on direct feedback from our customers. They consistently pointed to energy costs, equipment management and maintenance-related downtime as key operational challenges.
These concerns shaped our development priorities, leading us to incorporate the heat pump for energy savings, AI for performance optimization, the Dynamic Ball-Core System for stability, a front-access service design for faster, easier maintenance. We also integrated our existing LaundryCrew platform to support efficient equipment management. The focus is not technology for its own sake, but practical solutions to real operational challenges.
Q. How Does AI Provide Value in a Demanding Commercial Setting?
(R&D): While many people think of AI as a convenience feature, in the commercial laundry space, AI can play a meaningful role in improving productivity. Our AI Weight Detection analyzes load weight to optimize water, detergent and energy use, as well as cycle duration. During the drying process, it adjusts the time based on the condition of the items being dried, helping reduce unnecessary energy use and fabric degradation. These kinds of small, automatic adjustments can contribute to greater operational efficiency and more consistent results, especially when you’re running dozens of cycles a day.
Q. What Challenge Is the Dynamic Ball-Core System Designed To Address?
(R&D): In commercial laundry, the spin cycle is a critical step that affects the entire workflow. Large loads can easily become unbalanced, leading to vibration, noise and poor water extraction. The Dynamic Ball-Core System detects and corrects imbalances, allowing for a more stable, high-speed spin, which can improve water extraction and help reduce drying time. In short, it provides significant benefits across the entire laundry workflow, from washing through drying.
Q. What Value Does Heat Pump Technology Bring to the Commercial Market, and What Is the Significance of This New Heat Pump Product Lineup?
(R&D): For commercial laundry operators, energy use is one of the biggest expenses. In markets like Europe, where energy efficiency and sustainability are major priorities, high-efficiency drying technology carries significant value. We sought to apply LG’s advanced heat pump technology for home appliances to our Professional Laundry lineup to reduce energy consumption compared to conventional non-heat-pump dryers,1 and deliver strong drying performance. The ductless design further enhances installation flexibility, allowing the lineup to fit more easily into a wider range of operating environments.
(Product Planning): Featuring what we believe to be the industry’s first heat pump WasherDryer and one of the largest-capacity heat pump dryers, this lineup sends the message that energy efficiency and productivity don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Ultimately, these products reflect the technological direction and business direction that LG Professional Laundry is pursuing.
Q. For Operators Managing Many Machines, How Does the LaundryCrew App Help?
(Sales): Our commercial clients often operate dozens of machines at once. In this kind of environment, you need to be able to see what’s happening with every machine in real-time, and be able to respond to issues quickly. The LaundryCrew app gives administrators a single dashboard to monitor equipment status, operational data and maintenance information. LG also offers an Open API,2 which allows clients to connect LG equipment to their existing payment systems or proprietary management platforms. Our goal is to integrate seamlessly with the way clients already work, rather than forcing them to adapt to a new way of doing things.
Q. Could You Share a Memorable Story From the Development Process?
(R&D): One of our biggest challenges was building an effective verification process for these products. Our existing verification environment was built for smaller, residential appliances and not for large, commercial products. As such, we had to build a completely new verification infrastructure, which involved everything from installing new equipment to conducting building impact assessments. It was a valuable opportunity for our team to gain experience beyond pure product development.
But the most memorable experience was preparing for the field tests, where we would finally get to see and hear customers’ reactions to LG Professional Laundry in a real-world setting. People from several different departments collaborated, using the brand-new production and inspection facilities we had just built. Seeing those first units pass quality inspection and finally be shipped out – that was when the team could see the results of its efforts take shape.
Q. Looking Forward, How Do You See This Market Evolving, and What Role Will LG Professional Laundry Play?
(Marketing): The commercial laundry market is moving from an era of equipment competition to one of operational competition. In the future, customers will consider not only washing performance but also energy efficiency, data utilization, platform integration and ease of maintenance. LG Professional Laundry, with its combination of AI, heat pump technology and a connected platform, is designed to help customers operate more reliably and efficiently. We aim to be more than just an equipment supplier; our goal is to be a Total Laundry Solution Partner that actively contributes to our clients’ business growth.
The new Professional Laundry lineup signals LG’s strategic transformation: from a trusted equipment manufacturer to a Total Laundry Solution Provider. By looking beyond the performance of individual machines to create an intelligent and connected system, LG is helping global B2B customers improve operational efficiency and build stronger foundations for future growth.
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1 Based on internal testing comparing heat pump technology to standard dryers under controlled conditions; actual savings may vary by usage and environment.
2 Open API integration is not provided as standard and requires separate system development, which is initiated post product purchase.
